Honore: U.S. commander in S. Korea faces 'balancing act'

Russel Honore has a pretty good idea of what is going on right now in the mind of Army Gen. Walter L. "Skip" Sharp, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea, which has just been hit by a deadly barrage of artillery by the North Koreans.

"Right now, he is thinking, what does he do to not escalate the situation and at the same time be prepared to defend South Korea?" says Honore, the commanding general of the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division in Korea between 2000 and 2002.

The answer, says Horore - who gained fame for overseeing the National Guard's recovery efforts in New Orleans and is now retired and on the board of a St. Petersburg-based international security firm called Grand I.S.S. - is not simple.

North Korea has 1.2 million troops compared to South Korea's 680,000, says Honore. North Korea has twice as many artillery pieces, 1,000 more tanks and more than 10 times the number of missiles.

There are nearly 30,000 U.S. troops in South Korea facing an army that vastly outnumbers and outguns them - with about 15,000 in range of North Korean missiles, says Honore. And, unlike when Honore was in South Korea, there are now many troops' family members living in harm's way.

Though the South Korean military is currently in charge, Sharp, as U.S. and UN commander, will take control should the battle escalate.

The attack comes at a time when news has surfaced about a new North Korean uranium enrichment facility. And China is an ever-looming presence that sometimes reels in its client state and sometimes looks the other way, Honore says.

Sharp "has a balancing act," says Honore. "Both the U.S. and UN forces are in a wait-and-see mode. Is this another mad act by North Korea, or are there other indicators" of something more serious?

Honore says Sharp and his staff will be closely monitoring satellite imagery of North Korea's military and its medium-range missiles, which can easily reach Seoul, South Korea's capital and most populous city.

He won't have much time to act. While the North Korean army takes time to move, the impoverished nation built a massive underground bunker system to hide its missiles.

"The missile warning system is now a matter of minutes, not hours," says Honore.

As a show of force and measured response, Sharp will be looking at a number of options, including bringing in additional fighter planes from Guam and Japan and asking for an aircraft carrier from the 7th Fleet, stationed in Japan.

Tuesday's attack comes as South Korea is still protesting the suspected North Korean torpedo attack that sank the South Korean navy ship Cheonan in March, killing 47 South Korean sailors. Though tensions, already high in the region, have increased, Honore calls the latest military action by North Korea "standard operating procedure during a transition."

With North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said to be ailing and his son, Kim Jon Un said to be next in line, Honore calls the artillery barrage the sound of "a bad kid in the family acting up."

North Korea, he says, also acts belligerent when it wants something from the outside world - like food or fuel - says Honore.

"To old Korea hands," the latest attack "was not an accident," says Honore. "Each time they act up, the world gives them what they want."

Contact reporter Howard Altman at (813) 259-7629 or haltman@tampatrib.com. Follow him at http://www.twitter.com/haltman.